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| AFC Women’s Asian Cup |
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| Koreans come up short |
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| Chinese Taipei midfielder Yu Hsiu-chin blocks Korea Republic's Kim Soo-yun. |
HO CHI MINH CITY - Korea Republic suffered AFC Women's Asian Cup heartbreak despite overcoming Chinese Taipei 2-0 at Army Stadium on Monday.
Goals from Kim Yoo-mi and Kim Soo-yun were enough to defeat a spirited Chinese Taipei side, who were hardly recognisable from the outfit that were trounced 11-0 by Japan last time out.
Despite finishing level with Japan and Australia at the top of Group B, An Ik-soo's side were nevertheless eliminated in devastating fashion as they failed to better the Matildas' 4-0 victory over Chinese Taipei earlier in the tournament.
Korea had a first sight of goal after 12 minutes when Lee Jang-mi dinked a ball over the Chinese Taipei defence but Cha Yun-hee was well marshalled in the box.
A corner then caused panic in the box as Korea saw a couple of shots blocked before the ball fell to Hong Kyong-suk 18 yards out, but her effort sailed over the bar.
Tseng Shu-o then managed to escape the attentions of a couple of defenders but her left-foot strike from the edge of the area was easily caught by Korea keeper Jin Min-kyung.
Korea then took the lead after 22 minutes when Kim Hui-yeong's deep corner was met by Kim Yoo-mi and her looping header evaded the despairing reach of keeper Huang Feng-chiu.
Korea continued to show plenty of industry but were unable to further penetrate a resilient Chinese Taipei backline as they went in at the interval a goal to the good.
A heavy thunderstorm greeted the start of the second period and Chinese Taipei nearly got back on level terms as Tan Wen-lin embarked on a mazy run before squaring the ball across the edge of the area to Chen Ya-huei.
She in turn fed the onrushing Wang Hsang-huei but the midfielder's shot hit the bar with Jun beaten.
Wang saw a long-range effort tipped over by Jun as Chinese Taipei continued to threaten before Korea had a great chance with just over 15 minutes remaining but Kim Soo-yun just failed to get on the end of Cha's bending low ball across the box at the back post.
A nicely worked move then saw Chen Ya-huei get on the end of Lee Hsueh-hua's cross but her header lacked power.
The tension was mounting with Australia pulling a goal back to make it 3-1 against Japan in the other game, meaning Korea needed to score at least four goals.
Lee came within a whisker of doubling the lead when she hit the bar before Kim Soo-yun found the back of the net from inside the area in the second minute of injury time.
But it proved too little too late as Korea Republic were eliminated on goal difference.
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